Those who have read Dikötter will immediately recognise his no-nonsense style, which intersperses dry numbers (thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of deaths) and occasional stories that shed light on how some of these people died ... Dikötter succeeds at bringing these different strands together in a highly readable narrative that challenges the foundational myths of the CCP ... A tireless chronicler of the numerous crimes and follies of Chinese Communism, Dikötter once again shows his readers who was pulling the trigger of that gun, and at what cost to the long-suffering Chinese people.
Red Dawn over China tells a powerful story that draws heavily on the CCP’s archives ... Frank Dikötter’s account will certainly be challenged, but his evidence is hard to deny.
An unremitting catalogue of wanton Communist violence ... Does not make for good bedtime reading ... Dikötter provides plentiful references (which would normally encourage trust), mostly to primary sources ... But look carefully, and those sources are used highly selectively and treated as if they were unproblematic rather than written by historical actors with deep antipathy to the Communists. Sources that run counter to his narrative are overlooked ... A balanced account would acknowledge the frequent violent excesses of the movement, but also its success in creating hope that it could offer a brighter future ... Dikötter is a talented writer ... He could choose to provide a fresh and compelling – but balanced and nuanced – history. Instead, he presents anti-Communist polemic.
